Nestlé Pulls Products After Horse Traces Found

By

John Revill And

Inti Landauro

Updated Feb. 19, 2013 12:47 p.m. ET

ZURICH—Europe's sprawling horse-meat scandal has reached Nestlé SA, the world's largest food company by revenue, which is withdrawing some of its beef pasta meals from sale in Italy, Spain and France after finding traces of horse DNA in the products.

The Switzerland-based food giant said it found more than 1% horse DNA in two products following tests. It has subsequently withdrawn chilled pasta products Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini in Italy and Spain, and Lasagnes à la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France.

ENLARGE

Europe's sprawling horse-meat scandal has reached Nestlé, the world's largest food company by revenue.
European Pressphoto Agency

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The company also said it was suspending deliveries of all its finished products using beef supplied by H.J. Schypke, a German subcontractor of one of its suppliers, JBS Toledo N.V. The decision was made after traces of horse DNA were found in two products supplied by H.J. Schypke, Nestlé said.

"We have informed the authorities accordingly," Nestlé said late Monday. "The levels found are above the 1% threshold the U.K.'s Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence."

The company said there was no food safety issue. Nestlé spokesman Chris Hogg said on Tuesday the withdrawals would have no material financial impact on the company, which sells Gerber baby food, Nescafé coffee and Purina pet foods.

"These are chilled pasta products which have a limited shelf life, so inventory levels were quite low," he said. Nestlé will step up its testing program for horse DNA in its other beef products, and seek to recover its costs from suppliers of the adulterated beef.

H.J. Schypke said it bought its meat from certified suppliers, and all purchases met exact specifications and were properly checked.

"We stress that the H.J. Schypke Meat Company has at no time purchased horse meat," said the company, which added it was now working with the authorities to resolve the situation.

Supermarkets in much of Europe have withdrawn millions of products in a snowballing scandal that has now stretched to Ireland, Sweden and Romania. Some countries are holding emergency meetings with the meat industry to understand how the mislabeled products made it to store shelves. The furor has raised concerns about the complex network of slaughterhouses and suppliers that handle food on its way to the dinner table and the controls governing food transported across borders.

The scandal over horse meat disguised as more expensive beef began in Ireland last month, when authorities found horse meat in some products labeled as beef burgers sold in some supermarkets, but it has since swept across Europe. Supermarkets in the U.K., France, Germany and Switzerland have withdrawn numerous products, including frozen lasagnas, burgers and spaghetti Bolognese, from their shelves.

French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said Tuesday that sales of frozen ready meals have fallen 5% in France following the scandal.

Investigators from the French Agriculture Ministry identified horse meat labeled as beef from French meat-processing company Spanghero SAS. The ministry suspended Spanghero's activities last Thursday but authorized it to resume some of its activities on Monday.

"I made this decision because I have the certainty that evaluations and controls were made and there is no problem with the quality of products," Mr. Le Foll said on Tuesday in an interview on Europe1 radio. France's anti-fraud office and the Paris prosecutor are also conducting investigations.

The German government said after an emergency meeting on Monday that it will participate in European action plan to investigate the process leading to falsely labeled meat products and determine a response. Germany aims to complete its investigation and meat-testing program by the end of April.

German authorities have set up a consumer hotline and issued a warning to the industry. "Food-processing companies are primarily responsible for the safety and labeling of their products," the Consumer Protection Ministry said.

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